Town Square

Bullying is still a problem in schools

Original post made
by jordan doronila, Danville Weekly reporter,
on Mar 19, 2007

Several weeks ago, parents of a high school student complained to the SRVUSD board that bullying and harassment are major issues on campus. Now it is coming out that a 14-year-old high school student was "cyberbullied" on My Space and Facebook. She had to switch schools because of the misconduct by her peers. It's interesting, with all the opportunities and developments for youth, bullying continues to persist. What's going on here? Why do kids bully? Are parents doing their best to teach their children about respect and tolerance?

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Posted by AnneK
a resident of Monte Vista High School
on Mar 27, 2007 at 6:28 pm

I don't think parents are teaching their kids any respect at all. I have witnessed rude, thoughtless, and reckless behavior from students attending SRV High School and Monte Vista. 99% of these occurances happen after school is dimissed. I have seen kids drive recklessly in their parents cars and have seen kids harrassed on the Iron Horse Trail. It's really sad to think that these kids are our future.

I think that people tend to overreact when it comes to this issue. Bullying is something that most of us have experienced on some level when we were younger, but our country seems to be overly sensitive to everything these days. It is important to teach our own children that bullying is wrong but what other children do is out of our control.

Posted by Jordan M. Doronila
a resident of another community
on Apr 12, 2007 at 2:01 pm

Hey Mary,

Thanks for your comment. I think people believe that bullying is an issue because it disrupts the child's development. Also, according to theories, that it is the cause of school violence. It appears, from what I have gathered from several comments from parents and kids in the Danville area, that there is a lack of respect. I've heard from other people that many parents are not doing their jobs.

Posted by Rhonda Cruz
a resident of San Ramon Valley High School
on Apr 15, 2007 at 9:59 am

I don't believe bullying is limited to student to student at San Ramon High. I am aware of specific situations at San Ramon High that have targetted a few students by their teacher and also the administration. This is the worst type of Bullying. Student to Student bullying can be handled. But when you get an out of control teacher bullying a student the results are devastating and to make thing worse, when the administration puts their tail between their legs and falls in line with the out of control teacher, well you get the point. To protect the student, I will not name....names. If the parents are interested, just ask your son or daughter if they have a class where the teacher has no idea which end is up...you may be surprised with thier response. Remember...school faculity bullying is more harmful than student to student.

Posted by member of srvhs community
a resident of San Ramon Valley High School
on Apr 16, 2007 at 4:28 pm

I agree with Rhonda that faculty bullying is more harmful and an issue not to be left alone. Let me recognize that there are many outstanding individuals working with our children and their dedication to our community should not be overlooked. Unfortunately, for whatever reasons certain people have taken the position as leaders and role models and have abused this precious privelidge. Many of us can look back and admire a teacher or a coach who made an impact on our life. Positive of course, but I worry about the contrary effect. Maybe the administators should stop putting the blame exclusively on the adolesent and rather pass judgement on their own behavior.

At a middle school basketball game last week between Stone Valley and Diablo Vista, one of the players from DVMS resorted to bullying tactics on the basketball court in front of parents, coaches, and a referee. The player was not ejected, but the following scheduled game between the two schools was subsequently cancelled.

My understanding is that DVMS administration is aware of the situation as the bullying DVMS basketball player's older brother actually punched his middle school coach last season on the court during a DVMS game.

There certainly appears to be a rather small but existing small group of thugs at DVMS.

Posted by MoreThugs
a resident of Los Cerros Middle School
on Apr 5, 2010 at 10:17 am

Yes, the DVMS administration and teachers have been aware of this small group of thugs for some time. However, at Los Cerros Middle School two thugs recently harrassed and ripped open a girl students top shirt while she was walking on the path between Green Valley & Los Cerros. The incident has been reported.

Posted by Relax
a resident of Los Cerros Middle School
on Apr 5, 2010 at 3:23 pm

C'mon, lighten up, the boys were not being malicious, and for the most part they are very nice kids, from very good families. In fact one of the boy's father operates a Danville Christian sports organization which helps to instill Christian values for young athletes in our community.

Posted by Tit4Tat
a resident of Los Cerros Middle School
on Apr 6, 2010 at 10:31 am

There lies the problem, the continual overlooking and the making of excuses for unexcuseable, drastically improper, and criminal behavior. Put yourself in the young girl's position, she didn't know at the time if the boys were just having fun on the trail tearing her shirt open, or if their behavior was going to lead to something else.

Where are the school administrators, where are the police? Is this acceptable behavior that should go unpunished?

Posted by Hates Bullies
a resident of Danville
on Apr 6, 2010 at 11:13 am

There must be zero-tolerance for bullying, and bullies must be expelled. Parents must also stop defending their little angels and start supporting the teachers who are trying to enforce dicipline and who are trying to stop the bullying. In my view, it's ultimately the parents of these little monsters who should be held accountable.

Posted by Bully Behavior
a resident of Monte Vista High School
on Apr 6, 2010 at 12:35 pm

The school administrators are indeed aware, but they do not always fully address the behavior nor communicate between schools. The last Diablo Vista Middle School bully struggling with his behavior and grades was rewarded with the starting running back position on the freshmen football team, followed by a starting position on the JV basketball team at Monte Vista High School.

Posted by Zero Tolerance
a resident of Danville
on Sep 18, 2010 at 6:08 pm

The St. Isidore Catholic school here in Danville enforced their zero tolerance policy on school bullying this past school year. Several eigth graders were caught, warned, and re-warned regarding bullying and finally not allowed to attend De La Salle High School in Concord.

"Warned and re-warned?" Sounds like a pretty lukewarm response. If you're warning them and letting them continue to bully, that is NOT 'zero-tolerance.' I was subject to a great deal of bullying while a student at St. Isidores' in the 1980's, and it caused lasting emotional scars. You need to do more.